Costa Rica Local Travel Guide

Marco from Costa Rica is currently working with us here in Homestay HQ on an internship. He's a Finance professional back home in Costa Rica and he decided to move to Ireland to improve his English. He has been living in Dublin for three months now. Marco is also keen to travel in Europe and experience all the different cultures. He kindly agreed to give us a flavour of his spectacular country, from some of the delicious dishes to try, to the must see sights.

Marco at the Tesoro escondido Waterfall, Costa Rica

Places to visit in Costa Rica

Costa Rica is a small country but with a lot of places to see and enjoy, here you can find beaches in our two coasts (Pacific and Caribbean), volcanoes, and forest in almost all the country. Also, it's good to know that you can visit many places during a short trip because the distances from the city center or airport to the main attractions are relatively short.

Pacific Coast

On the Western Pacific coast, you can find great surfing and amazing beaches with stunning sunsets. Some activities you can also enjoy are: fishing, snorkeling, kayaking, horses riding, mountain biking, hiking and others. My favourite beaches are: Flamingo, Conchal, Tamarindo, Grande, Avellanas, Guiones, Monte Zuma, Malpais on the north Pacific coast. In the central and south Pacific coast as well where you will be surrounded by forest, many species of birds, animals like sloths, white-headed capuchin monkeys, black spiny-tailed iguanas, green iguana and many others. Some places you should visit in this area are: Manuel Antonio National Park, Marino Ballena National Park, Brake bay, Corcovado National Park. Each place more amazing than the next.

Last Costa Rica sunset..... for now. How could one not believe in yourself after seeing this? #conciousness

A post shared by Jennie Barnett (@jennie_marie_barnett) on

White-headed capuchin monkey, Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

Caribbean Coast

The Caribbean coast of Costa Rica is another magical place where you can find exotic nature reserves with diverse flora and fauna. Beaches with translucent blue-green water with great coral reef amazing to snorkeling or scuba diving. Cahuita National Park, Gandoca Manzanillo wildlife refuge, are some of the more stunning places you should visit in this area.

Gandoca Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge, Costa Rica

Our more famous volcanoes you can visit are: Arenal, Irazu, Rincon de la vieja and Poas volcanoes. Poas was closed to tourists recenetly due to volcanic activity! At each volcano you can enjoy many activities like canopy tours, hiking, horse riding, coffee plantation tours and hot springs.

San Jose

Precolumbian Gold Museum, Costa Rica

Costa Rican Traditional Food

Costa Rica has many delicious dishes so make sure you try them all. The main courses mostly consist of rice and beans with other ingredients like meat, fish, chicken, and fresh vegetables from the area. So they make a healthy alternative.

For breakfast, you'll likely be served the most popular "Gallo pinto". It's prepared with rice mixed with black beans served with eggs (scrambled), sour cream, fried plantain. Usually accompanied with a cup of coffee or fruit juice. A great choice to start your day. For lunch and dinner, the best option is "Casado", basically, is rice and beans (not mixed) served with meat, fish, chicken and green salad. Also, if you prefer the soup you can taste famous "olla de carne" that is prepared with local vegetables like potatoes, cassava, carrots, corn, plantains and taro roots and of course beef.

Casado for lunch

"Olla da Carne"

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